Credit-accounting appliance.



No. 7i'7,247. Patented nemso, m2.

P. A. McCASKEY.

1 CREDIT ACCOUNTING APPLIANCE.

(Application filed Sept: 19. 1902.

2 Sheets-Sheet I..

(No Model.)

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HPEQEFIEAEIQN fanning of Letters ?atent No. 717,24l7, deted'Deoember 30, 1902.

Application filed geptember 19, 1902. Serial K0.123,889. (No model.)

ToTcrZZ whom' it may concern:

Be it known that I, PERRY A. MoGAsKnY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lishon, in the county of Colombians and State of Ohio, have invented new and, useful Improvements in Credit Accounting Appliances; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invep'tion, reference being bad to the accompanymgjdrawings, and to the letters of refer ence marked thereon, which form a part of Lhis'specification.

This invention relates to appliances for the use of merchants in carrying out a system of keeping raccounts against their customers who may buy on credit, the object of the invention being to provide cheap'and economieal appliances whereby the credit-accounts may be kept accurately and in the least possible amount of time without requiring other entries than substantially those that are ordinarily made when making up and filling the orders for the goods. The invention consists in certain novel fee tnres of construction in bill-files and indexes therefor and in the parts and the combination and arrangement of parts, as hereinafi tor particularly described and. claimed.

' Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 represents a bill file perspectively that is constrncted substantially in accordance with my invention, the index being exposed to view and'the combined bill and cash drawer being open; Fig. 2, a perspective View of one of the plurality of hill-holders showing the arrangement of the clamps thereof and the novel means for hinging the holders; Fig. 3, a vertical sectional view longitudinally of the drawer, showing the arrangement of the bilhholders in the filingcase, one of the holders being open for inspection; Fig. i, a perspective View of the bare hill-holder frame or support for the bill-holders; Fig. 5, a fragmentary plan View of a bill-holder having a bill thereon and a-support for the holder and view of a portion ofthe bill-holder frame and spring-hinges for the bill-holders connected therewith, this being preferably the inner side of an end block thereof; and Fig. 9, a fragmentary View of the opposite side of the end block shown in Fig. 8, a bill-holder bei-- iugishown in connection therewith.

In the drawings similar reference charac ters designate like parts in the several figures thereof.

In practically carrying out the invention a cabinet-case is provided which preferably embraces two separate principal compartments in separately-formed connected cases, I

the lower case A being designed to lie horizontally, upon which is mounted the upper The lower case be made so as to be detachable from the lower case, if preferred, and it stauds'upon the rear portion of the lower case and has an open front. The top has a lid. D, connected to the back of the case 9 by means of hinges d, the lid extending beyond the heck of the case, so that when the lid is elevated, as in Fig. 1, it will standat an inclined angle, leaning rear- Wardly, and when in. this position a hoolc hoard E is detachably connected or so as to be folded to the upper edgethereof, hooks a being attached to the board for receiving the bills after the orders may have been made up waiting for delivery, the direction of the dostination of the goods being suitably indicated at the hooks, as North, South, due. The

hoolebosrd is designed to be placed in the upper case when not in use. The uppercase G is usually provided with a front door F, having hinges f, especially when the case G is intended to be detachable from the case A and the lid Dis employed; if the upper and "lower casesare permanently connected together, the lidD ma be dispensed with and the board E be connected to the top of the case and door F may be dispensed with, in which'c'a'se the index for the bill-' holders may be. placedupon the top of the ease A'inste'ad of the-top'or innerside of the ers a frame is provided, comprisibg and door F, as shown. The hinges'f'mayfbe at tached either toiihe bottom 9 of 'tlie opper case or to otherfsiiitable supports.

For supporting and carrying the hill-hold metal and connected together, as shown.

Thus a groove and a cap. together provide substantially a journal-bearing, orthe cap alone may provide the bearing.

The spring-hinges I (or the members which, with the journal-bearings, perform the functions of hinges) are composed of spring-wires closely coiled, so as to neatly fill the openings formed by the grooves and the caps or by the caps alone in which they are mounted. Each hinge has a stem n at one end and a stem 19 'at the opposite end'of the coil thereof, the

latter being locked under tension to a side of the end block by a stud q or other suitable device, so that the stem or. may normally be.

held at an angle nearly corresponding to the plane of the tops of theend blocks and extending upwardlyfrom the coil. A suitable -number of bill-holders, as J or J are suitably attached to the stems 'n, and each holder is thus supported by two spring-hinges or their equivalents. Each holder is in the form of a"rectang-ular plate, preferably of metal,

and when properly mounted may either stand vertically in the upper-caseorlie horizontally upon the lower case. In order to secure the holder-frame against tilting, a suitable block or rib r is attached to the back of the upper case, under which the member k may be pushed and removably held. The holders J are preferably stiffened by means of beaded edges, and the side edges are preferably so turned over as to form sockets 8, adapted to receive the stems n and frictionally b'ind them therein. I

Each bill-holder is provided with a suitable number of clamps K or paper-clips com posed of spring-wires, there being preferably ten arranged in two rows across the holder-plata' Numbers L are placed in thevicinity of the clamps for indexingpurposes, and a convenient manner of numbering may include 1 toj-m on thefirst holder, -1l to f20 on the second holder from the front, and so on. In addition to the'numbers the names of the debt rs may be written adjac'ent'to the n'um-' here, in which case it is preferable to provide special "facilities therefor, such as removable card-'holders'M, having tongues N for securing them in position and lips 11 under which the.-cards'O may be inserted and retained thereby; Each clamp K comprises a' long looped finger extendingfrom coils t t, the ends u ofthe wi re extending from the coils through openingsoin the hold'erJ' to and against the opposite side thereof, the coils being r'keptin jalinement by. bars 11), forced therein.

The tongues N are forced under the coils t t, whereby theholders M are. supported detachabl'y; iRibs 'P-are usually attached to the bilbholders'as guides for the bills that may be placed under the clamps K, and as-bills may accumulate. it may be desirable to increase the counterbalance for the bill-holders, in which case plates Q, having teeth B, may be secured to the blocks G G in lieu of the studs q, so that the stemsp may be adjusted properly and the tensions of the coils of the hinges I graduated.

' On theinner side of the'front doorF or upon the top of the lower case is the index-sheet having the permanent index-letters, as at S. The sheet may be card or paper and is preferably covered by a glass plate T, secured by cleats U. A supplemental index V may be placed on the front of the front holder J, if desired. The bills W may be of any suitable form. Indexing-numbers Y are placed at the forward edges of the bill-holders, at the outer sides thereof, as they stand vertically, the forward holder having the number 10, the second one 20, and so on, advancing by tens successively throughout the series of holders.

It will be understood that the bill-holders may be larger than those illustrated,s'o' as to accommodate fifteen or twenty bil1s,.or in addition to the spaces for bills there may be suitable spaces and clamps arranged for holding long statements of account.

In practical use the bill-holders J normally stand'uprightly and may lean toward the ackof the'case C, the indexing-numbers Y eingvisible on all the'holders, and the holders may be drawn forward, as one maybe seen in" Fig. 3, to gain access to the bills. The spring-hinges I may be so adjusted that the holders may lie horizontally when thus placed, yet when placed uprightly will so remain. During the movements of the billholders the coils of the hinges I will move slightly in theirbearings somewhat as a rotative shaft, in effect, although the ends at the stems will be stationary, while the other portions may be more or less strained and relaxed. The form of bill shown is well adapted to housed in connection'with the other appliances, as it has a space for carryingforward the balance-due to the top of the amounts subsequently charged to the debtor, as will 'be seen in Fig. 5. By means of carbon-paper the bills are made out in duplicate and the items checked off as the goods are packed for delivery. Thehookse are employed for holdng the bills temporarily, and one bill is to be delivered to the debtor while the other is to be placed in its proper place on one of the bili-holders, according to index system. Heferring to Fig, .6, it will be seen that on the index A. J. is entered as number 1, and his bill will be found at that number, in Fig. 6, on the bill-holder. lhe bills may be written at any part of the store, the only ontries to he madeat the cabinet being the old balances and the new footings showing the new balances due.

The advantages of the appliances and the system of accounting in the retail business especially will be obviens from the'foregoing.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is l. Credit-accounting appliances including bill-holders each having stems secured to one edge thereof, the stems provided with elastic portions and supporting the bil'lholders, hearing members upon which the elastic portions of the stems are supported, and caps extending over the elastic'portions of the stems and retaining the same on the bearing members. i v

2. Credit-accounting appliances including a frame havinginclined end blocks provided with caps, spring-hinges comprising springcoils mounted on the blocks beneath the caps and having each a fixed stem and a radiallymovable stem, and bill-holders attached to the movable stems and thereby supported by means of the spring-hinges.

3. Credit-accounting appliances including a frame having journal-bearings, springhinges'comprising spring-coils mounted in the bearings and having each a fixed stem and a radially-movable stem at opposite ends springs.

thereof, and bill-holders attached to the movable stems and thereby supported by means of the spring-hinges.

4. Credit-accounting appliances including a frame comprising end blocks having bearings at the tops thereof, coiled springs mounted in the bearings and having each an adjustably-fixed stem and a radially-movable stem, caps attached to the frame and retainins the coiled springs in the bearings, and bill-holders attached to the movable stems and thereby supported by means of the coiled 5. Credit-accounting appliances including a-frame having end blocks, springs mounted upon the blocks,'capssecnred to the blocks 4 and extending over portions of the springs,

hill-holders secu red to and supported entirely by the springs, and means whereby the ten 'sions of the springs may be variably adjusted.

6. Credit-accounting appliances including a frame having end blocks, springs mounted on the blocks, caps extending over portions of the springs and retaining the same on the blocks, bill-holders secured to and supported by the springs and each having bill-clamps and also detail indexing-numbers at one side and general indexingnumbers at the oppo-l site side'thereoi', and an index-sheet for the bill-holders.

7. Credit-accounting appliances including a lower case having an opening in the front thereof, a drawer slidingly mounted in the openinen an upper case mounted upodthe' rear portions of the lower case,a frame mounted in the uppercase and having caps secured thereto, springs extending through the caps and retained thereby on the frame, bill-holders secured to and supported-by the springs and having index-numbers thereon, an indexsheet mounted on the lower case, and a glass plate mounted upon the index-sheet.

'8. Creditaccounting appliances comprising a case, a front door hinged to the case, an indexing-sheet at the inner side of the door, a frame comprising end blocks having inclined tops'provided with grooves, caps spanning the grooves and secured to the endblocks, wires coiled in the grooves beneaththe caps and, having movable stems projecting laterally from the ends of the grooves,

bill-holders supported by the wires by means of the movable stems thereof, bill-clamps attached to the holders, and bill-hooks mounted above the case. I

9. Credit-accounting appliances comprising a case, a frame mounted in the case and comprising end blocks having inclined tops provided with grooves forming bearings,

coiled springs in the bearings and having each i a stem extending at a side of one of said blocks and fixed thereto and also having a movable stem, bill-holders attached to and supported by means of the movable stems, caps spanning the coiled springs, clamps'secured to the bill-holders, and card-holders secured by means ofthe clamps to the billholders. I

10. In credit-accounting appliances, the combination of a case, a hinged front door, a frame comprising endlhlocks havinginclined tops, caps attached to the inclined tops,wire$f coiled in the caps and having movable stems, projecting therefrom, bill-holders supported by the wires by means of the movable stems thereof, bill-clamps attached to the holders,

holders -and carried thereby, numbers ar ranged at the bill-c1amps,and ribs attached to the bill-holders between the bill-clamps.

' 12'. In credit -acc0unting appliances, the combination of a case, a frame mounted in the case and comprising end blocks, teeth projecting from the sides'of the end blocks, billholders having clamps thereon, and springs in connection with the hill-holders and havin g stems engaging the teeth whereby the ten sion of'the springs may be adjusted.

' 13. In credit-accounting appliances, the combination ofi a case, a frame-mountedin the case',spring-l1inges.mounted on the frame,

"'bilhholders mounted 'on the spring-- hinges 4 and having apertures therein,and bill-clamps having spring-coils adjacent to the apertures andalso. having ends extending through the apertures-and 'againstthe opposite side of the holders.

14. In credit-accounting appliances, the combination of a case, a frame mounted? in the case, spring-hinges mounted on the frame and having projecting stems, and bill-holders having the side edgesthereof turned over .the stems and thereby supporting the biliholders. p

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PERRY A. MOCASKEY. Witnesses:

BERTHA W. JOHNSON, JAMES W. CLARK. 

